I have to say that it is not often that one comes across a composer like Weinberg/Vainberg. I posted once about my growing interest in him that was primarily caused by the fact that Shostakovich considered him to be one of the most talented composers of his time and pulled some strings to bring him to Moscow where Vainberg produced an enormous amount of music. Many of the biographical descriptions of Vainberg’s life lament the fact that there are not too many recordings of his music out there. I suppose that it is true, if one compares the amount of recordings of the music by other Soviet composers. The list of the recordings could be found here, although it does not have all the recent CDs that are showing that the interest in Vainberg’s music is on the rise. Of the latter category, I will mention this great recording of Vainberg’s String Quartets No. 4 and No. 16 by Quatuor Danel (String Quartet). I am only assuming that there are plans for further volumes. But primarily I would like to recommend the recording of Vainberg’s late chamber symphonies. It is a rare CD and even though I was able to buy it at a decent price, the only copies available on amazon.com are now around $45. That is unfortunate, I think, because it might prevent people from discovering this amazing music. Vainberg’s Chamber Symphonies 1, 3, and 4 are composed in the late 1980s and early 1990s (1987, 1991, 1992) and I was very eager to see what kind of music he was writing during that time. Judging by Vainberg’s middle and late symphonies (fully-orchestrated symphonies), I was expecting something more or less dissonant and experimental, but Chamber Symphonies are far from such “modern music” – they are very harmonious and traditional, and reminiscent of Prokofiev’s First Symphony.
Here’s the review by Onno van Rijen who has a great website dedicated to Soviet composers: Continue reading
